Sims earns All-NEC first team honors marking the second All-Conference selection of his career (PHOTO BY Brian Foley)

Sims earns spot on first team, while Burnett named to second team and Zegarowski voted to third team by Conference's nine head coaches

NEC Announces 2022-23 Postseason Awards

EASTON, Mass. (February 28, 2023) – Three members of the Stonehill College men's basketball program have capped its first season at the NCAA Division I level by earning All-Northeast Conference honors as selected by the league's nine head coaches the Conference announced this afternoon.

Stonehill is one of two NEC program's to place three student-athletes on the All-NEC teams, with fifth-year forward Andrew Sims earning a spot on the All-NEC first team, while classmate Isaiah Burnett has been selected to the second team and postgrad Max Zegarowski has been named to the third team. It marks the third-straight season Stonehill has had multiple All-Conference selections under Jim Phelan NEC Coach of the Year Chris Kraus, '06, and is the just the third since the 1980-81 season Stonehill has had three All-Conference selections – its first since the Skyhawks NCAA Division II Elite Eight season in 2015-16.

The Stonehill trio are the first three All-NEC selections in the program's inaugural NCAA Division I season, but give Kraus 17 All-Conference performers over the course of his head coaching career. Sims is the 14^th first team All-Conference honoree since the Northeast-10 Conference's first season in 1980-81 and the first since former teammate and All-American Will Moreton, '20 was a first team selection in 2019-20.

Sims	Burnett
	Zegarowski

Sims earns All-Conference honors for the second-straight season with first team honors for the first time after being named to the All-NE10 third team in 2022. He is the eighth player in program history to earn multiple All-Conference honors dating back to 1980 as the program's first Division I first team pick. Sims started 28 of the 30 games he has played in the Skyhawks inaugural Division I season, ranking among NEC leaders in six categories. He is sixth in scoring with his team-high 15.2 points per game, while also ranking fifth in field goal percentage (.475), seventh in free-throw percentage (.752) and 13^th in rebounds per game (4.5), including 12^th in defensive rebounds (3.5/gm) while his 33.2 minutes per game ranks fourth in the NEC.

Sims was Stonehill's top scorer in 12 games this winter, scoring in double-figures 25 times, with 20-plus points a team-high nine games. He scored a career-high 30 points in the Skyhawks 62-51 win over St. Francis College of Brooklyn on February 11 and was the team's top rebounder in nine games, posting a double-double with 17 points and a season-high ten rebounds in the Skyhawks win at Sacred Heart University in their NEC debut on December 29. Sims earned NEC Player of the Week honors following Stonehill's first week of the season and was an NEC Prime Performer a team-leading nine times. He earned All-Tournament team honors at the Tom Konchalski Classic at Fordham University in November.

Sims became the 43^rd player in Stonehill men's basketball history to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career, doing so against FDU on January 16. He finished his career ranked 29^th all-time at Stonehill with 1,172 points in 103 career games, starting 63, adding 508 rebounds, 152 assists, 51 steals and 63 blocked shots. Sims has scored in double-figures 54 times over his collegiate career, with 20-plus points 17 times, and totaling seven career double-doubles.

Burnett earns All-Conference honors for the first time with his second team All-NEC selection. (PHOTO BY Mary Gettens)

Burnett earns All-Conference honors for the first time with his second team All-NEC selection. He was named the NEC Player of the Week once on November 21 and is a seven-time NEC Prime Performer. Burnett started all 31 games in Stonehill's first Division I season and currently ranks third nationally with his 88 steals – the most by a Stonehill player since the NCAA started tracking the statistic in 1992-93, ranking second in the NEC and fourth nationally with 2.84 steals per game. He ranks among NEC leaders in eight categories overall, averaging 12.2 points per game (13^th), ranking fourth in free-throw percentage (.795), 11^th in rebounds per game (4.6), including tenth in defensive rebounds (4.0/gm), 11^th in assists per game (2.7) and 14^th in blocked shots (16), while his 31.9 minutes per game ranks 11^th.

Burnett recorded at least one steal in all 31 games this season, extending a streak to 37-straight games dating back to the 2021-22 season, posting multiple steals in 26 games with three-plus steals 15 games, including a school-record seven in a 74-61 win over Saint Francis (Pa.) University on February 2. He led Stonehill in scoring ten games, with 23 double-figure scoring games, including 20-plus points five times. Burnett scored a career-high 30 points in the Skyhawks 81-79 triumph over College of the Holy Cross on November 19 and was named to the All-Tournament Team at Fordham's Tom Konchalski Classic. He posted a double-double with 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in a 69-66 win at Binghamton University December 3, adding a season-best six assists.

Burnett, an NABC Honors Court recipient twice, started 51 of his 54 games played over two seasons at Stonehill after transferring from the U.S. Naval Academy prior to the 2019-20 season. He totaled 659 points, 243 rebounds, 152 assists, 140 steals and 35 blocked shots over his two seasons for the Skyhawks, finishing with 699 points, 275 rebounds, 172 assists, 150 steals and 39 blocks in 79 career games played including the 2018-19 season at Navy.

Zegarowski is a third team All-NEC selection, leading the Conference in free-throw shooting, while ranking among NEC leaders for three-point and field goal percentage as well (PHOTO BY Brian Foley)

Zegarowski earns the first All-Conference recognition of his career with a spot on the All-NEC third team. He made an immediate impact for Stonehill in its NCAA Division I debut season after transferring from former NE10 rival Franklin Pierce University, starting all 31 games. He is the Skyhawks second-leading scorer with 12.6 points per game (11^th NEC), leading the NEC in free-throw percentage (.877), while ranking second in three-point percentage (.419), third in three-point field goals per game (2.3) and ninth in field goals percentage (.454), while ranking second in minutes played at 33.7 per game.

Zegarowski has led Stonehill in scoring in seven games this season, reaching double-figures 19 times, including 20-plus points on three occasions, including a career-high 30 points in the Skyhawks 75-60 win over Long Island University on February 16. He has led the Skyhawks in rebounding eight times, posting a team-high two double-doubles, draining four-plus three-pointers in seven games. Zegarowski was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District^® team for his efforts on the court and in the classroom, was named an NEC Prime Performer three times over the course of the season and received an honorable mention by The Boston Globe in its ranking of the top ten Division I men's basketball players in Massachusetts in December.

Zegarowski surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for his career at St. Francis Brooklyn on February 4, and has now scored 1,075 points over his 91 career games played over his time at Lynn University (2018-19), Franklin Pierce (2019-22) and Stonehill (2022-23). In addition to his 1,075 career points, Zegarowski has totaled 399 rebounds, over his career, with 54 double-figure scoring games, including 20-plus points ten times and five double-doubles.

Stonehill, picked ninth in the NEC preseason coaches poll, turned in a second-place finish in the Conference's final regular season standings in its first NCAA Division I season, starting its four-year transition period on July 1, 2022. The Skyhawks are ineligible for the NEC Tournament until 2024-25 and will be a full Division I member starting in 2026-27.

For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Stonehill Skyhawks "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.